A sentence of 18 years of criminal imprisonment was requested Monday, January 23 against the former fighter of the Islamic State (IS) organization Jonathan Geffroy, who appears before the special assize court of Paris for association of terrorist criminals.
“Misleading” statements
“Jonathan Geffroy is an opportunist” who has “supported without reserve the fights of the EI including the attacks in Europe“Said the general counsel of the National Anti-Terrorist Prosecutor’s Office (PNAT).
She played down the revelations made by Jonathan Geffroy to investigators from the General Directorate of Internal Security (DGSI) after his arrest in Turkey in February 2017, stressing that “his statements had never been corroborated by the facts“.
“No cases have been solved thanks to Jonathan Geffroy. What he said (to the investigators) has no consistency and has sometimes turned out to be misleading“, insisted the general counsel.
His wife sentenced for criminal association
Jonathan Geffroy, in detention since 2017, faces 30 years in prison.
The Advocate General requested seven years in prison against Latifa Chadli, the Moroccan wife of Jonathan Geffroy, and a three-year prison sentence including 12 months suspended against Denise P., the mother of Jonathan Geffroy, tried for financing a terrorist enterprise after having sent more than 18,000 euros to his son when he was in the Iraqi-Syrian zone.
Latifa Chadli, who appears free for terrorist criminal association, faces 30 years in prison. Denise P., who also appears free, faces ten years in prison.
“I am completely under their control at this time”
During his interrogation on Friday, Jonathan Geffroy, 40, had explained without pretense his career within the Islamic State. “When I arrive in Syria (in February 2015), I am proud to be there. We build a world, we build a bubble“, he had admitted.
“I had put the Islamic State on a pedestal because they had conquered a lot of territory. This dimension of power nourished me. I was completely under their control at that time. Proud. Proud to have guns. I feel good, I meet people from all over the world who think like me. I’m in total utopia“, he had recognized, fully assuming his responsibility.
“Before July 14, 2016 (date of the Nice attack, editor’s note), I did not look the truth in the face. Today, I deconstructed all that. And if I want to be honest, while I left with the desire to help the Syrians oppressed by Bashar al-Assad, in fact I never helped them“, he had explained at length to the court.
The verdict is expected in the evening after the arguments of the defense lawyers.